


A Fool's Summer Day

by EmternalSummers



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 乐华七子NEXT | NEX7, 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Fluff, General Shenanigans, M/M, college!Wenjun, parent!Zhengting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27053491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmternalSummers/pseuds/EmternalSummers
Summary: Wenjun hates his job as a clown at the amusement park. Screaming child after screaming child really takes a toll on you after a while, but when he meets two lost children he learns that helping kids sometimes leads to a better reward than you would think.
Relationships: Bi Wenjun/Zhu Zhengting | Jung Jung
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27
Collections: Cloud 9 Fic Fest





	A Fool's Summer Day

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta read, we die like men -My friend who told me to post this
> 
> This was written for the Cloud9 Fic Fest! This is my first fest and I'm very excited to be a part of it. I absolutely love the people in this community so I'm glad I'm able to contribute something.
> 
> My regular fics will also be updated once my brain heals from the mess that is online college classes. They're really doing a number, but I am determined to get more content out soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy this mess!
> 
> Slight trigger warning towards the end for injuries, but nothing overly graphic.

Wenjun hated his job most of the time. Most of the time, Wenjun wanted to throw off his itchy wig, clean off his makeup, and tear up his god forsaken costume with intentions of burning it. That was most of the time. Other times, he was pleased to see smiles on other people’s faces, or amazement when he did some kind of yoyo trick. It was small moments like those that made wearing everything a little bit more bearable, in his opinion.

But that wasn’t to say that doing a part time job as a clown in an amusement park didn’t fucking suck nearly 80% of the time.

Sometimes, Wenjun felt that he could list off more negatives than positives when it came to this line of work, but it was also just a summer job. Once his semester at college started up once more, he’d be free of his personal hell and with a bit of pocket change to spare. He just needed to endure two and a half more months and he’d be free.

This was his usual thought process as he pulled into the staff parking lot of the amusement park he worked at. In the passenger seat next to him, Wenjun’s older brother Yanjun was fast asleep. He worked at the water park on the other side of the lot, spending the day with his shirt off as a lifeguard and being completely unfair. Yanjun had put it as the “privilege of being the elder sibling” but Wenjun was pretty sure he bribed his way into the position to get into the pants of the guy who worked at the smoothie bar across from the wave pool.

With a particularly hard jab to Yanjun’s side with his elbow, Wenjun mercilessly woke him up as he put the car in park. “We’re here.”

The older brother just sleepily opened one eye, then the next, before he yawned and stretched. Shifting himself upright, Yanjun looked around and fixed his stare on Wenjun. “Did you speed? I feel like my nap was shorter today.”

Wenjun just balked at the question, not bothering to answer and instead gathering his items and getting out of the car to leave Yanjun behind. There was a somewhat indignant shout that came out of the car, followed by the door opening, locking, and being slammed shut. Wenjun hardly batted an eye as he went closer towards the employee entrance. The sound of an annoyed Yanjun was behind him, but it was filtered out as the sound of freshly popping popcorn and the jokes of the other staff who had yet to begin to suffer through their shifts.

Wenjun nodded hello to some of the people who’d been there nearly as long as he had, classmates from high school and so on, but mostly kept to himself. His brother was a bit more of a social butterfly. He stood around longer talking, but Wenjun knew it was basically a ploy just to talk with the object of his current affection a little bit longer. The smoothie maker, an upperclassman who had large doe eyes and teeth that reminded him of a rabbit, had been Yanjun’s unsuccessful target for years. Wenjun couldn’t tell if he wasn’t interested or just simply oblivious.

With a roll of his eyes, Wenjun made his way towards the back where his locker waited. He opened it with caution, smelling it before he even saw anything. His clown costume, decorated with all different shades of stripes and polka dots, hung limply from the back hook. It wouldn’t be until Sunday where they were able to put the costumes into the dry cleaner, so until then, a lot of perfume was used to mask the scent of summer’s sweat. Wenjun personally couldn’t tell what was worse: the sweat or the sweat and perfume mixture.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it as the bell chimed somewhere outside. While the necessary staff had to be out there at 8 am perfectly, performers were given a bit more leeway with how they had to prepare. Which means, right about now, Yanjun was probably scrambling to get his staff shirt on and run out to the water park while Wenjun leisurely pulled on his costume and wig.

One thing he was thankful about was the lack of make-up he was forced to wear. The owner of the park, a woman in her forties who made just about everyone mildly uncomfortable to some degree, had insisted on different types of clowns in different areas in the parks. There were a few mimes, some harlequin styled ones, a pierrot or two, some generic white face clowns that handed out balloons up front, and then there was Wenjun’s jester style. He typically stuck to some random shapes splayed across his face, sometimes a bit of blush to make his cheeks a bit redder and shimmer to make his eyes sparkle.

He was towards the back of the park, where some of the older attractions were. He was meant to make witty jokes or do some fancy tricks, but he was rather poor at both despite doing this for years. So instead, he leaned to the more “magical” side of jesters and performed tricks with his yo-yo. In high school, it had been a simple enough past time, but after getting surprisingly good at it, Wenjun had even competed at a somewhat high level. It was a past time that he didn’t really continue with, but it was a fun way to get out of awkward conversations while he worked.

After getting his costume together, applying some basic make up, Wenjun walked out of the building and into the disgustingly humid air. If it wasn’t for the paycheck waiting for him at the end of the week, he would have turned right back around and hidden inside the staff room all day. But, against his better judgement, the college student persevered and walked towards the back of the amusement park where he would spend the rest of his shift wandering around, talking to some of the others around there, and amusing children.

God couldn’t strike him down fast enough.

It had already been several hours into his shift when the weariness finally caught up to him. The stupid unbreathable polyester had really begun to do a number on him and the smell of perfume must have surely faded away by now. Still, parents with their children insisted on having photos taken and being amused by his yo-yo skills. Pulling up one sleeve, he checked his watch that only had the numbers “11:56” emblazoned across it. Four more minutes and he could find bliss in the sweet AC of the staff room for an hour before he had to go back out. Today felt more rewarding than normal after he spent nearly all his yo-yo tricks on some kids from a summer camp that were spending the day rampaging through the park.

Just as he knew the vibration on his wrist was about to go off to alert him of the hour change, there was a small tug on his pant leg. Glancing down, he first noticed two small boys holding hands and looking fearfully up at Wenjun.

The one that had tugged, was wearing a brave face as he almost shielded his brother behind him and gulped before speaking. “M-Mr. Clown? C-Can you help us find our Papa?”

It wouldn’t have been the first time children had gotten lost in the park. It was a near daily occurrence, though it usually happened in more crowded sections of the park. That being said, Wenjun still knew the drill of what to do. He crouched down to the boy’s level, who flinched away from him. The one behind him made a small noise and only shrunk further back. He smiled gently to make himself slightly less intimidating. Or at least tried to.

“Do you know where you saw your Papa last?” He spoke softly to them, the sound of older children screaming elsewhere nearly over shadowing his words. It was times like this he really wished he could shut them up,

The two exchanged glances and shook their heads. The second one seemed to be on the verge of tears as he spoke next. “P-Papa said we had to wait while he got us candy, but Minghao really wanted to go on the rollercoaster, but the meanie man wouldn’t let us on, so we went back to find Papa, but we couldn’t.” It wasn’t long before he did break into tears, Minghao turning around to vigorously wipe them off his face.

“Quanzhe, we said we wouldn’t cry anymore! If you cry, Papa won’t come back for us!” Minghao continued to try and wipe away Quanzhe’s tears, but his own began to fall. “You’ve got to stop crying.”

Wenjun sighed as he watched the two brothers comfort each other before pulling them into a hug. “I’m sure your Papa is looking for you right now. How about we go get some cotton candy while we wait for him okay?”

The two nodded before hesitantly wrapping their arms around Wenjun’s neck to return the hug. After a moment, Justin had taken a loud sniff and wrinkled his nose. “Mr. Clown smells bad! Eww!”

It was followed up by Quanzhe taking a curious sniff, only to giggle and wrinkle his nose as well. “Eww! Bad smelling Clown!”

That seemed to strike something in Wenjun as he scooped up Justin and placed the brat on his shoulders. The little boy squealed in joy as he was lifted and soon brought up high. His hands nestled themselves in Wenjun’s wig. The other brother squealed in laughter before reaching up to try to get to Minghao. With a grunt of effort, Wenjun managed to lift him onto his hip, the boy clinging to this costume for dear life as they walked through the park.

“Alrighty, Mr. Bad Smelling Clown here will help you find your Papa, okay?” The two kids chimed in understanding before going into a lookout mode for their father.

Wenjun had no clue who they were looking for, so he strolled down the main path of the park with the two kids perched on him. When he had picked them up, the first thing he noticed was how light each of the boys were. They seemed to be no older than five or six years old, so when Wenjun could lift Minghao up with little issue, something inside of him told him that something wasn’t right. He had lifted up plenty of kids during his time at work, but none of them were quite as skinny as these two.

Throughout their walk, the boys never spotted their father, so Wenjun brought them back to the staff room where he would be able to use the intercom to call for the parent. As he placed them down to wait for him, the boys were immediately surrounded by some of his female coworkers, who cooed over each of the boys. Glancing over his shoulder, he could just make out their uncomfortable glances and fidgeting. Once Quanzhe gave him a slightly teary look, Wenjun let out a sigh as she shooed the girls away for now.

“Do you both want to call for your Papa?” Wenjun asked as softly as he could. The brothers glanced at each other before nodding. Wenjun offered his hands to both of them as he went into the communications room. With one boy on either side of him, he settled down in the chair in front of the microphone and cleared his voice.

“Patrons of the Yuehua Amusement Park, we are sorry to interrupt you, but we are currently looking for the parents of Quanzhe and Minghao. They have been brought to the front staffhouse next to the ticket acceptance.” Feeling a tug on one sleeve, Wenjun looked over to Minghao, whose eyes were alight with a mischievous glow. Cautiously, Wenjun slid the mic over to him, only mildly afraid of what would come out of the child’s mouth. He had heard some questionable things come out of the mouths of even the most angelic-looking children.

“Papa! Zhezhe and I found a really nice clown for you, so you better come pick us up! You should meet him and-” Wenjun quickly got the microphone back and shut it off while the two kids began to laugh their heads off.

“Why I outta…” Wenjun felt the heat rush to his cheeks, cursing the two to hell and back for this mentally, but scooped them up and spun them around in a mock threat. “I’m sure your Papa is going to be very angry with you!”

They merely squealed in joy as they were swung around, their arms locked firmly onto Wenjun’s. With a roll of his eyes, he brought them back into the staff room, where several other workers were already gathered around. Their eyes landed on Wenjun with a laser focus, but none were stronger than Yanjun’s stare.

“That was some announcement, huh?” Yanjun said as Wenjun went to place the kids down on seats once more.

“Say anything else and you’re walking home,” came Wenjun’s threat as he went past Yanjun to grab some of the pre-bagged cotton candy. That quickly shut his brother up, but it didn’t stop the spark of playful enjoyment in Yanjun’s eyes.

A few of their other coworkers giggled and gossiped around Wenjun as he fed the children their cotton candy. His face felt warm as the amount of eyes grew on them, others coming back from their break, or even switching with people who were just coming in. They were filled in rather rapidly and Wenjun was sure that by the end of the day, the entire park would know about it.

The children were silent once they received their cotton candy. They exchanged an occasional glance between them, even looking up towards Wenjun every now and again. Their gazes were almost hopeful, but Wenjun was having none of it. They were young, so he assumed their father, or whoever, was young as well. But, it wasn’t in Wenjun’s strike zone to go for an older guy with kids. Not that anyone was really in Wenjun’s strike zone. He was often alone romantically and found more meaningful relationships in friendships. He already felt hurt enough to last a lifetime.

“Excuse me!? A-Are my sons here? I heard it over the intercom that they were here...” Wenjun perked up as a voice rang out over the sound of the staff and AC. Standing up, he walked towards where the front desk staff usually deal with complaints about the park. He expected some kind of deadbeat guy who was trying to satisfy his children for the weekend before ignoring them.

What Wenjun didn’t expect was the exhausted looking, albeit gorgeous, man who managed to shakily collect himself. Even drenched in summer’s sweat, he seemed to sparkle with his own level of beauty. Wenjun stared for a moment before being nudged by someone. Next to him, Yanjun had appeared with a shit eating smirk and nod of his head. “It’s rude to keep the guest waiting.”

Wenjun cleared his throat before going towards the window, waving with a timid smile. “Hello, are you Minghao and Quanzhe’s father?”

The man’s face slackened into relief as Wenjun came forward. He quickly went around the side of the building and when Wenjun opened the door, he came face to face with the father. Upon even closer inspection, he was even prettier with plump lips and warm brown eyes. There was something about this man that just struck Wenjun in all the right places.

“Quanzhe! Minghao! There you are!” Brushing past Wenjun, the man ran up to the two kids and pulled them into a tight embrace. “I thought I lost you two…”

“Too… tight!” Minghao gasped out and flailed his arms wildly as his head was attacked with a smattering of kisses. Quanzhe seemed far more content, giving their father a tight squeeze in return. Wenjun smiled and leaned against the door as he watched the father fuss over his sons. Eventually, the man turned around to face Wenjun, his face bright with a smile.

“Are you the one who found them?” He asked. The father stood up and took each child’s hand in his own. “I have to thank you so much-”

“Actually, they were the ones who found me,” Wenjun said with a shrug. The two children giggled, looking up at their father. He didn’t do well with the idea of someone thinking that someone was thanking him for his job.

“Mr. Clown was reeeeally nice in helping us! He brought us all the way here and even let me talk on the speaker.” Minghao clung onto his father now, smiling happily and practically bouncing on his feet. “Even if he is a bit stinky!”

Both boys erupted in giggles, and Wenjun was tempted to smack them both upside the head. The kind look on the father’s face was what kept him from doing it, though. It was so soft and loving, Wenjun only slightly wished he was on the other end of it.

“Wenjun, your break is over.” From back inside the staff room, the shift leader poked her head out. She looked between the kids and the clown, raising one eyebrow. “I expect you back out there in five minutes.”

“You guys have it hard here, huh?” The father looked towards Wenjun as Minghao and Quanzhe chased each other around the two. “That costume looks stuffy.”

Wenjun wrinkled his nose with a nod. “You don’t even know half of it. But if I tell you any more, I might lose my job.” He glanced around, making sure no one was paying too much attention to them. “They only clean these things once a week.”

The father covered his mouth, hiding a gasp and widening eyes. “Only once a week?”

Wenjun nodded his head grimly. “The smell builds up far too quickly for my tastes. It’s a personal hell for sure.”

The father’s face broke out into a smile as he laughed, but it was soon broken as Wenjun’s name was called once again. That didn’t stop the college student from imagining his smile for the rest of his shift, even zoning out on occasion despite the flood of children that seemed to surge during the afternoon.  
4 o’clock couldn’t have come soon enough as Wenjun’s mind floated throughout the rest of the day. That father’s face was ever present, like a little beam of light that permeated through the summer haze. It was a trivial thought, seeing as though it was unlikely Wenjun would ever see him again, but it was a nice idea.

By the time his watch notified him of the end of his shift, Wenjun was properly sweaty and his make-up was basically all gone. Some last minute riders were hopping on here and there, but it was clear other coworkers annoyed at the people. The park didn’t close for another 3 hours, but closing shifts were the worst. Trying to find and make sure everyone got out of a park of this size? It was definitely the worst thing Wenjun had to do.

Once he fished a kid out of a trash can, some rascal named Chengcheng, who ended up becoming someone he tutored during the school year. Worst coincidence yet, but he had eventually come to treasure the kid who reminded him of Minghao in some ways. Same kind of personality that always seemed like they were up to something. In fact, Wenjun was positive Chengcheng was always up to something when he visited. Just different stages of his plan at all times.

That seemed to hold true for Minghao, as a sudden body viciously attached itself to Wenjun’s leg. It had the same hair and clothes as the young boy from earlier and the face that smiled up at him, adorned with a small mole on his cheek. He giggled before turning around, one hand still gripping onto the material of the costume.

“See Papa! I told you I could find him again!” Minghao shouted towards the entrance. Looking up, Wenjun met eyes with the father from earlier, Quanzhe placed on his hip. His smile was just as soft and beautiful as earlier, but this time directed right at Wenjun instead of the kids. It caused a slight flutter in his chest, but tried to squash the feeling the best he could.

“Thank you Minghao. I knew I could trust you,” the father patted his son’s head as the boy rushed back to him. The closer Wenjun looked, he now noticed a faint blush under the puffy eye bags the father seemed to have developed. He must have been really going through it today with both of the kids going missing. “I’m glad to have found you, um…”

“Ah, I’m Wenjun,” the college student smiled and bowed back to the father, who returned the gesture as best he could.

“I’m Zhengting, a pleasure to meet you,” Zhengting adjusted his grip on Quanzhe as the boy nestled his face into the crook of his father’s neck. “As you can guess, this here is Quanzhe. And the loud one is Minghao.” The boy in question whipped around to face Zhengting, face puffed up with indignance.

“I’m not loud!” Minghao practically shouted, causing Zhengting to break out into the cutest laughter Wenjun had ever heard.

“I think you just showed your dad’s point kid,” Wenjun leaned down to ruffle Minghao’s who immediately tried to retaliate by swatting at the offending hand. He was adamant on taking Wenjun’s hand down, it seemed, as he began to chase wherever it went as the college student continued to speak. “Anyway, do you need me for anything? My shift’s over, so I can’t show you around or anything…”

“Oh, that’s perfect!” Zhengting’s eyes lit up, obviously pleased with his timing. “I was hoping I could treat you to something, as a way of thanks.”

Wenjun lifted one brow. On one hand, this is an incredible chance. He’d like to spend as much time as he could with the handsome stranger before he disappeared completely. On the other hand, he also had no clue about this man’s preferences. If he had kids, there had to be a missus somewhere, even if they weren’t connected any longer, the chances of him even considering Wenjun were probably pretty low.

Wenjun paused his train of thought, trying to mentally back it up. Yes, he found Zhengting attractive, but he didn’t realize all his thoughts were circled around actually getting with the father. Which, in reality, would most likely never happen. He had to stop himself before he got too far.

“I’m sorry sir, but I was only doing my job. I’m sure if anyone else here found your kids, they would have done just the same. While I appreciate the gesture, I don’t believe I can take you up on it.”

Wenjun had never seen someone visibly deflate so quickly. Zhengting seemed to sag down, a frown pulling at the sides of his lips. It didn’t last too long though, as he quickly regained himself and forced a smile. “Oh, I’m sorry if I was too forceful. I just really wanted to thank you for your work.”

Wenjun sighed and rested his hand on Minghao’s head. The boy had finally calmed down and was now holding tightly onto Wenjun’s pant leg. “If you really want to thank me, take these two out for a treat. I’m sure today was just as scary for them as it was for you, so give them something nice. For me, okay?” Wenjun tried to make his statement sound a bit better by ending it with a smile, though Zhengting still didn’t seem completely swayed.

“But I-”

“Wenjun, you’re late- oh, hello there,” An arm found itself around Wenjun’s shoulder as Yanjun came into view. He had a familiarly handsome smirk on his face as he glanced between Zhengting and Wenjun. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Oh, no, my bad we were just finishing up here,” Zhengting hurried forward, cheeks once again tinged pink. “Come on Minghao, we need to get home.”

“I don’t want to go!” Immediately, the boy hugged Wenjun’s leg and ignored his father’s tugging hand. “Mr. Clown has to come with us!”

“Minghao, please,” Zhengting begged with a bit more of an edge to his voice and tugged a bit harder on his son’s arm. “Your brother is tired, we need to head back.”

“No! No, no, no!” Minghao hid his face behind Wenjun’s leg. “I don’t wanna!”

It was at that moment Quanzhe had enough and began sobbing into his father’s shirt, right on the border of an entire meltdown. And Wenjun was caught in the middle of it all. Through the panic that began to fill the air, the college student bent down and took Minghao by the shoulder, trying to distract him long enough for Zhengting to soothe Quanzhe.

“Listen, Minghao, I’ll meet all of you guys outside. You have to be a good boy and listen to your father though, okay?” This didn’t seem to sit well with Minghao, though, as he only seemed more hell bent on staying put.

“He’s not even my real papa! I shouldn’t have to listen to him!” With that, Minghao took off back into the park, weaving among the small crowd that had gathered around them. He was soon out of sight and the only thing that filled the air were concerned voices and the beginning of Quanzhe’s wails.

“Minghao! Minghao, come back here!” Zhengting’s voice was soon drowned out by Quanzhe’s cries, the young boy bursting out into tears. Immediately, the stressed father tried to calm the young boy, but kept looking back to where Minghao ran off to.

“Let me see,” Wenjun stepped forward to take Quanzhe off of Zhengting’s hip and gently placed him on the ground. Yanjun had begun to disperse the crowd that gathered around them, thought the whispers and dirty looks continued as families walked away. “Quanzhe? Quanzhe can you hear me?”

“Mr. Clown, Minghao is gone! He’s gonna leave me behind like Mommy and Daddy did! I’m gonna be all alone! A-And he promised me that he would never let me go,” the young boy babbled on as tears continued to fall down his face. He fruitlessly tried to wipe them away, but the droplets kept coming.

“Shh, it’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna find Minghao okay? And when we find him, you have to remind him of your promise.” Wenjun tried his best to soothe Quanzhe, softly stroking his hair and talking in a reassuring tone. This seemed to work slightly, as the boy started to slow his tears and wails became small hiccups. “But to find him, we all gotta work together. You, me, your papa, we’ll all work together to find Minghao.”

Quanzhe nodded and tried to stand up straighter. A hand on Wenjun’s shoulder pulled his attention up. Yanjun was joined by another person, which Wenjun was shocked to see the boy from the smoothie stand. If he remembered correctly, the smoothie guy’s name was Zhangjing. “We’ll help you too. We know the way around the water park, so we can search around there. You guys take the main park and we’ll call you if anything comes up.”

“Thanks. I’ll put a call out on the walkie talkies before we head out,” Wenjun nodded as he watched the two take off.

Zhengting looked between them all and breathed out a sigh. “D-Does this happen often too?”

Wenjun shook his head as he stood up. “Not as frequently, but I’m sure we’ll find him soon enough.” He ushered Quanzhe over to take Zhengting’s hand, smiling as the young boy seemed willing enough to do so. “Take Quanzhe over to the staff house and have them make an announcement about Minghao. I’m going to get changed out of this and then we can head towards the amusement park rides.”

“Got it,” Zhengting hurried off with Quanzhe to talk to the staff and Wenjun dashed into the changing room as quickly as he could. He peeled off the sweaty fabric and didn’t even bother to hang it up as he pulled on his day outfit. A pair of jeans and shirt would have to do for now. He was too pressed for time to take his makeup off though, so now he was going to have to run around with a mess of shapes on his face.

The intonation of the speaker pinged overhead and the less than enthusiastic announcement was made about Minghao. He knew that none of the workers would go specifically out of their way to look for one kid, they had their own jobs to worry about, but it would at least make them a bit more vigilant. Hopefully prevent the kid from getting into any really dangerous situations.

Now dressed more socially acceptably, Wenjun rushed back out to meet Zhengting to where he was trying to figure out what to do with Quanzhe. The boy was too young and tired to keep up with the adults, but all the strollers were out and it looked like he wanted to join the search. Without another word, Wenjun lifted the boy up on his shoulders, grinning as his gasp of surprise of wonder turned to surprise.

“So high!”

Zhengting bumped into Wenjun’s shoulder as he walked by, rolling his eyes dramatically. “Showing off your height I see.”

“My height isn’t the only long thing about me,” Wenjun shot back instantly, before inwardly cursing himself. It was his most used pick up line for those rare nights out, but he hadn’t planned on using it on Zhengting. It was almost painful how quickly the red raised to his cheeks and the silence stretched out between them.

After the most excruciating moment of Wenjun’s life, Zhengting broke out into the beautiful laughter, nearly doubling over. “Why don’t we save that for a later date, okay?”

Wenjun just nodded and began to lead the way towards the back of the park. It would be best if they had worked their way forward, sweeping through and hopefully catching Minghao before he got too far. It was impossible for him to tell that to Zhengting, as his mouth felt like it was swollen and full of cotton.

“Zhezhe, where do you think Minghao would go?” Zhengting kept up with Wenjun’s pace, looking around the park, but occasionally glancing up at Quanzhe. The young boy himself seemed to be searching the best he could do, holding one hand above his eyes to prevent the sun from blinding him.

“Someplace real high! Because that’s where mommy and daddy are!” Quanzhe chirped with the utmost confidence. “That’s why we wanted to go on the rollercoaster! It goes up really high.”

“The roller coaster.” Wenjun and Zhengting spoke at the same time, coming to a stop and glancing at each other. Without another word, they broke off into a run with Quanzhe holding onto Wenjun’s hair for dear life and Zhengting leading the way.

The roller coaster attraction was the one thing that Wenjun felt the worst about in the whole park. It was this rickety old thing that was one of the park originals. Made from wood and metal, it constantly shook with every pass and had to get patched up at least twice a summer, sometimes more if the weather was warmer for longer. To be honest, it was a complete safety hazard, but that was also part of its draw. The danger of the infrastructure and the drop that have lunches coming up for ages was what kept people coming back.

Approaching the ride, there was a long line with patrons muttering among themselves. It stretched along a wooden bridge that led towards the ride. A small artificial river ran below it, a part of the aquatic section of the park. The ride itself was situated along a small high, but was undoubtedly the highest point in the park.

Taking Quanzhe off his shoulders, Wenjun handed the boy to Zhengting. “Stay here, I’ll go check to see if he’s made his way to the front.”

“I want to come-” Zhengting’s protest was cut short as Wenjun pulled a staff tag from out of his pocket.

“Any lost time with people getting mad with you cutting could be dangerous. If he’s there, I’ll get him back.” It was obvious Zhengting wanted to continue to argue, but Wenjun turned around and started to squeeze through the line instead.

While there were people who were expectedly upset by some guy pushing his way through the line, the grumbles were mostly silenced when Wenjun flashed his staff card in their direction. He scanned the crowd in front of him before he found what he wanted. In the front, Minghao was also weaving between legs to get onto the ride. Of course, someone like Minghao would never be able to get on normally, but he had only a few hopes that the kid running the ride would actually notice.

“Minghao! Minghao, stop!” Wenjun tried to shout to get his attention, but Minghao paid no heed to it. He eventually made his way to the front of the line, anxiously waiting for the next cart to appear. He kept glancing over his shoulder, obviously knowing that Wenjun was now on his tail.

It didn’t take long for the next cart to appear, the queasy passengers getting off and filing out towards the exit. The next batch of passengers began to board, Wenjun reaching the line just as he watched Minghao scramble onto one of the seats.

Someone was going to lose their job today and it better not be Wenjun.

“Minghao!” The seats began to lock into place as the older passengers got in. The ride wasn’t full and thankfully it seemed that no one cared about the young boy in the back seat. No one but Wenjun, that is, who finally made his way to the front.

He jumped over the gates that the next set of patrons were waiting out. There were the sound of upset people as Wenjun ran towards the carts. The kid working the station had already pressed the button for the ride to start, not noticing Wenjun until the college student was diving towards the last cart.

“Hey, stop this ride!” Wenjun shouted as Minghao squirmed in his arms. The child was too small to be secured by the safety harness, easily slipping out and into Wenjun’s arms.

“I-I don’t know how!” The attendant shouted back, now finally seeming to be awake and partially sentient. The ride lurched forward and began the upwards climb slowly. It was too late to get off.

“What the hell,” Wenjun growled under his breath. He felt Minghao’s hands tighten onto his shirt as they began their ascent. Neither one of them were buckled in and from Wenjun’s few experiences on the roller coaster, it was anything but stable. Even when he was buckled in, Wenjun was pretty sure he was going to fall out.

“M-Mr. Clown? What’s gonna happen?” Minghao was now teary eyed as he clung onto Wenjun and watched as the carts slowly made their way up the hill. The drop was soon and after that, various twists and turns that were sure to make any rider scream.

Wenjun bit his lip and quickly shoved Minghao under him. Lord knows what kind of germs and other things were on the ground, but for now it was the safest place for Minghao. “I want you to stay here, okay?” Looking around, Wenjun grabbed one of the seatbelts and thrusted it into Minghao’s hands. “And whatever you do, don’t let go of this, okay? Hold onto it as tight as you can.”

Minghao nodded meekly and Wenjun watched as the boy’s knuckles turned white with how hard he was gripping onto it. Wenjun was now bracing himself between the seat and the front wall of the cart. It was times like this he was thankful for his height, which allowed him to become pretty stable as he supported himself between the two walls.

“I-I’m sorry…” Minghao said between small whimpers, twisting the seat belt around in one hand.

“Save your apologies for Zhengting and shut up,” Wenjun hissed as he readied himself. He pressed down so he was squishing Minghao onto the floor. With a few tense moments as they made their way up to the point of the ride, he felt the first few carts tip before the real ride started.

As soon as they went over the tip, it would take only seconds for them to start going over 60 mph. From there, they would whip around corners and go down several more drops before being pulled up one more peak and being sent flying back down and towards the exit.

The entire time, Wenjun felt like his muscles were being pulled away from his bones. Each turn smacked his head into one of the sides and on occasion he felt himself also slip out of the car. It didn’t help that the screams of Minghao and the other riders filled the air as they were whipped around. He was given only the smallest respites as they began their second ascension. That was when he felt it.

Blood dripped down one side of his head and onto the floor below him much to Minghao’s wide eyed fear. He had hit his head hard enough and often enough on one of the sides to cause an actual injury.

It was at this point Wenjun decided he hated kids.

As the rapid descent happened once again, a feeling of lightheadedness took Wenjun over. The ride was going too fast and he had hit his head a bit too often. Everything was becoming blurry and now he didn’t really care if he let go. Minghao hadn’t moved very much and most likely be safe even without Wenjun there. If he did fall off, the odds of being dumped off at Yanjun’s wave pool was also pretty high.

“Mr. Clown, please! Y-You can’t leave me too!” Minghao shouted below him and a pair of arms hooked themselves around Wenjun’s neck. He wasn’t holding onto the seat belt anymore. Wenjun was his only anchor point.

“I won’t, we just need this ride to end,” Wenjun replied through gritted teeth. He hoped they were stopping soon, otherwise they would both end up in Yanjun’s wave pool.

Maybe it was the lack of blood, or maybe it was just the fact that roller coaster rides are never really that long, but Wenjun felt like they were back where they started soon enough. There was the sound of some kind of commotion behind them, but the pounding in his head wanted him to snap at everyone to shut up. As the other passengers got off the ride, Wenjun slowly pulled himself to his feet, revealing the unharmed, but certainly shaken, Minghao beneath him.

“Minghao! Wenjun!” Zhengting’s voice filled the air and the college student felt a new pair of arms wrap themselves around him and the boy below him. Maybe if his head didn’t hurt so much, he’d say something cool, something suave that would definitely make Zhengting fall for him. Instead, he said the first thing that popped into his mind as the father hugged him.

“You smell nice,” were the last words out of his mouth before Wenjun blacked out.

~*~

Wenjun wasn’t all too surprised when he woke up surrounded by beeps and a pounding headache. He wondered if his plea for god to strike him down earlier had come true, but the fact that he was still alive and breathing showed that maybe his wish wasn’t truly granted. Blinking through the fog that surrounded his head, he was able to make out someone sitting in a chair across from his bed with two smaller figures on either side. Outside, it sounded as if Yanjun was shouting at someone over the phone, his silver hair going back and forth in front of Wenjun’s door.

“You think you should fire Wenjun for this? What about the kid who didn’t know how to fucking stop the roller coaster, better yet letting a kid get on it!?” A moment of silence before he started up again. “No, you know what? You’ve lost two workers and you’d better be ready for my lawyer to talk to you.” There was silence followed by a loud sigh and tap as Yanjun poked his head into Wenjun’s room.

“How much of that did you hear?”

Wenjun shrugged. “Enough to know you quit for me.”

Yanjun snorted and placed himself at the edge of Wenjun’s bed. “The boss was being dumb. They wanted to pin everything on you and have it be your fault you got hurt instead of admitting that the kid running it was undertrained.” He looked over at the small family that was sitting in chairs on the other side of the room. “The kids were really worried about you, you know? The younger one- Minghao? He was in tears once the ride stopped. Absolutely refused to leave your side.”

Wenjun couldn’t help but smile at that. The kid was trouble, sure, but at least he had something going on in his head. Speaking of heads, the college student reached up to touch his own. Whatever medication he was on must have been working wonders, as he could hardly feel any pain. The feeling of gauze instead of any kind of hair of skin indicated that something had happened. But instead of pain, he only felt a kind of lightheaded blur. Whatever medicine that was being pumped into him was working pretty well.

“That’s nice. I’m glad he’s okay then,” Wenjun said softly. He noticed a few bandages on the sleeping child, who was cuddled up to Zhengting, and frowned. Ultimately, he most likely got some cuts and bruises from the harsh nature of the ride, but he seemed otherwise unharmed.

Zhengting seemed to twitch in his chair as Wenjun spoke, opening one eye slowly. He blinked before stirring and sitting up. Quanzhe’s head slid into his lap and Minghao just groaned as he was shifted. “W-Wenjun?”

Immediately, the brothers turned towards Zhengting. The room was silent for a moment before Yanjun patted Wenjun on the back and began to leave the room. “Well, Zhangjing said he’d take me home because I left the car at the park, so I’ll get going.” He turned to leave, but not before winking at Wenjun. The younger brother, if he was more able, would have liked nothing more than to hit Yanjun’s dimpled face.

Slowly, as to not disturb the children too much, Zhengting shifted out of his chair and went to stand closer to Wenjun’s bed. He played with his fingers about, letting an awkward silence fill the air between them. “How are you doing?”

The college student shrugged, mouth suddenly going dry. Even in the dimmed lights of his hospital room, Zhengting had looked good. Wenjun couldn’t tell if it was from the drugs they pumped into him or the head injury, but Zhengting seemed to have very kissable lips right then and there.

“I’m alive?” Wenjun tried, eliciting a laugh from Zhengting. That seemed to ease some of the tension in the father’s expression and he sat down on the side of Wenjun’s bed. He continued to fiddle with his fingers, before letting out a sigh.

“I really can’t thank you enough,” Zhengting started. “You know, those two aren’t my real kids. My sister married a divorced man, but he had children from his previous marriage. Their mother didn’t want them, so he was a single father. On their honeymoon, they got into a car accident and passed away…”

All Wenjun could do was nod, piecing together the rest of the puzzle. Zhengting, who had absolutely no blood relations to either child, was now raising them by himself. That would explain why he didn’t appear to be much older than Wenjun himself.

Zhengting continued. “I dropped out of college and worked so I could have enough money for the three of us. It’s been… hard. Today was supposed to be the first day we could go out and do something fun and I messed it up so quickly. I’m sorry.”

Wenjun struggled to sit up for a moment before just resigning himself to taking one of Zhengting’s hands in his own. The brunette looked up as Wenjun questioningly, tears silently slipping down his face.

“First thing, your life sounds like it came out of some shitty daytime drama,” Wenjun started and was pleased to see that it got Zhengting to smile a bit and wipe away some of the tears. “Besides that, I think they know you’re working hard. Quanzhe, Minghao, they might not know everything that’s happening behind the scenes, but they know they can always go back to their Papa and be there for him. Right boys?”

Zhengting looked around to see the sleepy kids standing in the middle of the room hand in hand. They nodded at Wenjun’s comment before running up to Zhengting and hugging him the best they could.

“We still love you Papa! No matter what happens!” Minghao’s face had been overcome by snot and tears now, the young boy bursting into tears at Zhengting’s distress. “You’re the only Papa we need!”

“Yeah, we’ll always be here for you Papa!” Quanzhe chimed in afterwards, sporting slightly less of a mess on his face. “Just don’t leave us behind, okay?”

Wenjun smiled as Zhengting moved onto the floor to hug the children. It felt awkward to be in the middle of this family moment, despite only knowing them for a few hours, but it almost felt right as well. This was one of the times where his work led to some rewarding outcomes.

“And you can’t leave Mr. Clown behind either!” Minghao declared after he detangled himself from Zhengting and climbed up onto Wenjun’s bed. “He’s family now too!”

“Am I now?” Wenjun asked with one raised brow. Minghao nodded fervently, gripping onto his shirt. “Well, ask your Papa if that’s okay before you go around saying stuff like that, okay?”

“Can we keep him, Papa?” Quanzhe asked from Zhengting’s side. Wenjun had to hold back from rolling his eyes. They were making it sound like he was some kind of animal they rescued from the side of the road and wanted to keep as a pet. But, it made Zhengting do that kind of beautiful tinkling laughter that Wenjun had enjoyed, so he didn’t mind too much.

“Okay, okay. I guess we can keep him,” Zhengting eventually conceded with a smile. While the two kids celebrated with cheers around the small room, Wenjun had laughed and finally gotten himself into a sitting position. Minghao’s arms were latched around his neck and Quanzhe was scrambling to get onto the bed with his brother. The atmosphere quickly shifted to something warm and friendly and Wenjun couldn’t help himself from smiling with the others. It had been a while since he felt so warm inside.

“Excuse me, but visiting hours are ending soon,” among their cheers and laughter, a nurse had poked her head in. Immediately both the kids deflated and sat still on the bed.

“B-But we can’t leave! Mr. Clown is our family!” Quanzhe protested softly. Minghao nodded in support of his brother and took one of Wenjun’s hands.

“Yeah! He can’t do anything without us!”

“Minghao, Quanzhe, we need to get going anyway. It’s far past either of your bedtimes,” Zhengting tried to round up the two boys, but they clung tightly onto Wenjun. The older brunette sighed and looked pleadingly towards the younger. “Help?”

“Alright you two,” Wenjun said, gently pushing them away. “How about this? If you go home and be nice for your papa for the rest of the night, you can come see me first thing tomorrow morning, okay?”

This seemed to be just enough to get the children to respond happily, the two bounding off the bed and standing to wait by the door. At a much slower pace, Wenjun got up to follow them with the aid of Zhengting.

“Shouldn’t patients stay in bed?” Zhengting chided playfully as they walked down the hallway. It was a bit too bright for Wenjun’s liking, but he wasn’t going to say much about it. One brother stood on either side of them, taking in every part of the hospital so they knew right where to go to visit Wenjun the next morning.

“I’m sure no one will care if I walk you to the exit,” the college student argued back, noting how none of the nurses stopped them as they continued. “Besides, those beds could stand to be a bit softer.”

They continued the rest of their walk in a comfortable silence. While Wenjun kept one arm linked with Zhengting for support, he didn’t remove himself right away once he was able to walk by himself. The light pressure from his arm being locked in Zhengting’s and the warmth was comforting, soothing whatever worries Wenjun had in the moment. Typically, his mind would be running a mile a minute on what he had to do next, going on about a new job or what this injury could mean, but right now, he was perfectly content being by Zhengting’s side.

Once they made it to the exit, they found it fairly empty. A few nurses flitted about from one place to another and a few other guests were leaving, but other than that, there was nothing. The kids had gone into the gift shop, leaving Wenjun and Zhenting alone in the atrium.

“Wenjun, I really can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done,” Zhengting said, only to be met with a soft head shake from the college student.

“You don’t need to thank me. As long as Minghao is safe, that’s all that matters.” Wenjun couldn’t help the small smirk that formed on his lips as he continued. “Besides, I’m part of your family now. Can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Zhengting smacked Wenjun’s arm as he laughed. “Are you sure you need to be here? You seem well enough to go home now!” Zhengting stopped as the kids had popped back out of the gift shop, walking back towards them. “But seriously, if there is anything I can do to thank you, let me know.”

Wenjun thought about it for a second before smiling. WIthout another word, he leaned down slightly to place a chaste and sweet kiss on Zhengting’s lips, leaving him blushing red and stunned. “Take that as my payment of thanks, okay?”

“You-!” Both of the kids looked questioningly up at the two, not understanding what just happened. The red on Zhengting’s face seemed to spread as he went forward and grabbed the collar of Wenjun’s shirt and planted a firm kiss on the taller’s lips before pulling away. “If you’re going to do it, do it right!”

Now it was Wenjun’s turn to be stunned as he stood there with an open mouth. Zhengting turned around and hurried Quanzhe and Minghao out of the hospital, both of them still looking back in confusion. Wenjun touched his lips as if he couldn’t believe what actually happened was real and watched as the family left.

“Bye bye Mr. Clown! See you tomorrow!” MInghao called out with a wave before he was shooed through the doors by a very red-faced Zhengting.

A smile came over Wenjun’s lips as he watched them leave before turning himself back around to head towards his room. His head was now filled with thoughts about Zhengting, the red face now being at the forefront of his mind. “I might not be as much of a clown after all…”


End file.
